National antibiotic resistance monitoring in veterinary pathogens from sick food-producing animals: the German programme and results from the 2001 pilot study

In 2001, the first Germany comprehensive cross-sectional study into the sensitivity to antimicrobial substances of selected pathogenic bacteria from food-producing animal species (dairy cows, fattening pigs) was conducted by the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety, BVL (formerly, Federal Institute for Health Protection of Consumers and Veterinary Medicine, BgVV). Initial experience from national resistance monitoring revealed that the necessary organisational structures may be suitably established in a federal system. The quantitative sensitivity results (minimum inhibitory concentration, MIC) for the bacterial species examined showed lower resistance values in contrast to German data published previously and also in comparison with results from other European countries. Based on the experience from this pilot study, an urgent need has been identified to continue this interdisciplinary approach to tackle the resistance problem together with human medicine. After analysing the data from the pilot monitoring study, in 2002 the BVL started a year's study with an extended selection of bacterial species and indications. In the future, bacterial samples from private diagnostic laboratories and universities will also be included in the resistance monitoring system.